TFBA 02

TFBA

Episode 2

[Casting Frost Shield spell.]

Pssshhh……

A violent, white steam hissed past both of my cheeks.
It was the aftermath of the fireball thrown by ‘Twin flame’ Kenneth, blocked by the wall of ice.

“Tch, so you’re unfazed by this.”

Seeing me unscathed, he immediately began chanting his next spell.
He seemed to be preparing a larger attack.
Meanwhile, with Kenneth’s appearance, the soldiers who had been knocked down earlier recovered their wounded and reformed their ranks.
Their numbers were less than half of what they had been.

“Please, escape! While we hold him off, Baron, you must get to safety…!”

“You are noisy.”

“Excuse me?”

“How dare you suggest running away? And to whom?”

Judging by the level of his magical power, my opponent was a wizard of a caliber exceeding 5th Class.
In front of him, ordinary soldiers were no different from kindling.
They were even worse than wet firewood, as they could be burned so easily.
So, magic against magic.
Ice against flame.
That was the way a veteran player of Candela of Judgment dealt with a mage.
It was also a good opportunity to test Winter Winslet’s combat prowess.

“I will punish this wretch myself.”

Kenneth laughed as he saw me step forward, dismissing the soldiers.

“A wise choice. I didn’t want to burn innocent lives either.”

Having finished his chant, he now held fire in both hands.
In his left, a spear woven from heat and light; in his right, a blazing whip of flames.
Fire and ice were opposites, and Winter Winslet was the finest ice wizard in Candela of Judgment.
I was sickeningly experienced in wizard duels.
…Of course, within the game.

Could I handle Winter Winslet’s magic properly?
I’d only know by trying.

“Try blocking this too!”

[Casting Frost Shield spell.]

The moment I deployed the defensive spell again, Kenneth’s flame spear flew forth and struck.
Unlike the previous fireball, the flames comprising the spear didn’t scatter and disappear but persistently melted and burrowed into the ice.
One ice barrier was consumed per flame spear.
He threw a second spear, and then another.
By the time I had blocked three spears in a row, I could clearly feel the sensation of drawing upon magic. By the fifth spear, I could wield Winter Winslet’s talent as naturally as if it had always been my own.

However, there was one problem.

“Huff… Huff… How long will you just block? Are you mocking me?!”

The only thing I knew how to do with this damn magic was defend.
Because I didn’t know what spells Winter Winslet had learned.
The Frost Shield spell was the most basic and crude magic, creating a lump of ice at a designated location, which was why I could manage it on the fly.
But it wasn’t enough.

“Fire, oh flame! Bind, burn, and sever!”

Whoosh!

Finally, Kenneth’s right hand moved, swinging the flame whip.
The line of fire coiled around the ice barrier, and as Kenneth pulled with force, the half-melted barrier finally crumbled to pieces with a crash.
Seeing this, Kenneth smirked and moved his arm again.
This time, the whip lash and a flame spear came flying together.

“Fire, oh flame!”

“A single ray of light that chars even the sun!”

Double Casting—simultaneously reciting two different spells with one voice.
A rare talent possessed by roughly one in ten wizards.
Staring at the two approaching flames, I made a decision.
The solution was actually very simple.
I didn’t need to be Winter Winslet.
In the end, it was me standing here, and there was something else I could do.
The list of spells from Candela of Judgment that any game veteran should have memorized.
Just as I was recalling the details in my mind…

[Alert]

[1,706 Class 1 Spells have been newly registered.]

[986 Class 2 Spells have been newly registered.]

[821 Class 3 Spells have been newly registered.]

……
……
……

It was the moment when the specs of Winter Winslet, already considered a top-tier villain, merged with the knowledge of a Candela of Judgment veteran, resulting in his rebirth as the worst boss.
And that was me.
“Twin flame” Kenneth or “Twin-bastard” Kenneth.
You’re done for.

“Ughhh……”

The defeated Kenneth hung his head.
Confirming that his bastard’s magi field had shrunk to a point where he could no longer continue fighting, I slowly approached.
The intermittent coughs and rising and falling shoulders confirmed he was still alive. Hearing my footsteps, Kenneth muttered in a raspy voice.

“I still can’t win, even going this far……?”

“Do you admit defeat?”

“Yes. Just kill me.”

Kill you? Why would I kill you?
Winter Winslet might have, but I wasn’t a murderous maniac who stained my hands recklessly.

“Killing you is not my task. Return to prison and await the judgment of the law.”

“I tried to burn you to death, and you won’t even take revenge?”

“Your arrogance is excessive. You never had the ability to harm me.”

Kenneth twitched as if to move but groaned in pain.
Cold, sharp ice stilettos pierced his hands and legs, sealing his movements.

“…It’s frustrating, but true. Having experienced your magic with my whole body today, I realize I could never surpass that realm even if I devoted the rest of my life. My vengeance is an impossible task. I have no reason to live anymore. So, kill me.”

He did say vengeance earlier.

“Why did you want to kill me?”

“……”

At my question, Kenneth’s expression began to change dynamically.
It shifted from initial rage and hatred to bewilderment, and then to grief.

“Heh, don’t tell me you don’t even remember what you did? To think you were that much of scum.”

Suddenly receiving a pure condemnation, I pressed him on what he meant, but Kenneth firmly sealed his lips and refused to speak further.
…I genuinely don’t know.

Candela of Judgment is a game where the player becomes a member of the Candela Knight Order to eradicate villains threatening the kingdom, and Winter Winslet is a boss NPC in that game.
He undoubtedly committed major crimes, and the personal grudges he incurred are too numerous to count.
I grew worried.
Just how many times would something like today happen again?
No wonder he was a villain with a 100% mortality rate.

As I was sorting through my complicated feelings, personnel arrived to handle the situation.
They belonged to several different organizations.
The escape and destructive acts of a 5th Class wizard were a significant enough incident to mobilize both the Royal Capital Guard’s war wizards and agents from the Royal Ministry of Magic’s Safety Management Bureau.
The high-level personnel, called out via the emergency network in the dead of night, were initially annoyed the situation was already resolved, but their mouths fell open when they saw the scene laid out before them.

“Good heavens. What is all this?”

“It’s a veritable snow country. It’s spring, yet everything is covered in ice!”

“Did you see on the way in? The garden outside is completely frozen solid. The fountain, the trees…”

“So, the one who did this to the place was…”

“Baron Winter Winslet.”

“Ah.”

The wizards, sensing the scale of my magic field, instinctively avoided approaching.

“Poor escapee. To think he’d run into that monster.”

“Is it true Baron Winslet is a 7th Class wizard?”

“We’d need to fetch someone like Lord Wendrick to confirm. The Court wizard is also 7th Class.”

“Phew. It’s a good thing he’s not the escapee.”

Meanwhile, an officer who appeared to be a commander from the Military Police was investigating the soldiers who had witnessed my fight with Kenneth.

“This report will go all the way to the Commissioner. There must not be a single word of falsehood.”

“I saw it clearly with my own eyes. The Baron stomped his foot on the ground, and the entire area froze solid. A pure white frost spread all the way to the ceiling in an instant…!”

“How was Kenneth subdued?”

“At first, it seemed like an even match. Kenneth kept throwing fire, attacking Baron Winslet, and later even tried to set the building ablaze with a fireball the size of a house. But then the Baron cast some kind of spell, and icy vines grew from everywhere, surging towards Kenneth like a wave.”

“That’s a spell I’ve never heard or seen before.”

“Is that so? If the Captain doesn’t know, then I certainly wouldn’t. But what I saw was real.”

“Well… judging by the scene, it doesn’t seem like a lie.”

After finishing the debriefing, the Military Police commander apologized to the Ministry of Magic and Royal Guard mages for their wasted trip and sent them away.
Then, after loading the wounded and the subdued Kenneth onto stretchers to be taken elsewhere, he finally approached me.
He was accompanied by a man I hadn’t seen before.

“Baron Winslet, I presume?”

“And you are?”

“Captain Lowell of the Military Police. And this is…”

“Donatel, from the Public Security Bureau. First, please accept our sincere condolences for this unfortunate incident.”

The man who introduced himself as Donatel explained the full story of today’s event.

“Earlier today… well, it’s past midnight now, so yesterday. Yesterday around 10 PM, ‘Twin flame’ Kenneth escaped from the penitentiary. We realized he was targeting you, Baron, and requested support from the Military Police… but as you saw, it was insufficient. We ended up relying on your hand. Do you have any further questions?”

“Who is this Kenneth?”

“Kenneth Edgar. A mage also known as ‘Twin flame’ Kenneth, who showed exceptional talent in fire magic and was scouted by the military. However, he was convicted of insubordination the year before last, expelled from the army, and became a lecturer at the Royal Academy. Then last year, he embezzled funds from the Academy and was imprisoned.”

Having answered, Donatel looked at me quizzically.

“But surely you know Kenneth, Baron? You are also a professor at the Academy, are you not?”

“I don’t recall.”

“Is that so? Judging by his words and actions at the penitentiary, Kenneth seemed to hold a significant grudge against you. Was there no connection between you and him?”

“I don’t know.”

I said it because it was the truth.
But Donatel narrowed his eyes and looked at me.

“Hmm… We’ll let it pass for now. If anything comes to mind later, please contact us.”

Saying this, he handed me a business card. It read ‘Laurencia Public Security Bureau, 1st Intelligence Division.’
Laurencia is the name of the country that serves as the main stage for Candela of Judgment—the land I was currently standing on.

“How could Kenneth, locked in prison all year, know your location and come running the moment he escaped? There is a faction that aided his escape, provided your location, and incited this assassination attempt.”

“Who is it?”

“That is what we are investigating. So, we would appreciate your cooperation at any time.”

I barely resisted the urge to sigh.
Now there’s a faction trying to assassinate me too?
My future path of hardship was laid out clearly before me.

“My apologies for the intrusive questions. Then, I’ll take my leave. I wish you a peaceful night.”

With the aftermath of the incident settled, the sky outside had turned into the pitch black of dawn.
It was really time to go home, wash up, and sleep.
Winter Winslet’s profession was an academy professor, and his residence was a faculty house provided by the academy.
Walking through the night streets for a while, I arrived at a luxurious three-story mansion with a swimming pool and garden located within the academy grounds.
However, I couldn’t go straight in and hesitated before the front door.
…Where does Professor Winslet keep his key?
Even as a veteran player, I didn’t know that.
Should I ring the doorbell of my own house?
Is there someone inside?
Just as I was thinking that.

Creak.

The door opened from the inside first.